Safety outlet closure for conveyers



. 18, 1936. w. B. M BURNEY fl l SAFETY OUTLET CLOSURE FOR CONVEYERS Filed Dec. 24; 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l WB.M%Burney,

INVENTOR.

ZEELHW Feb. m, 1936 w. B: MOBURNEY SAFETY OUTLET CLOSURE FOR CONVEYERS Filed Dec. 24, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATT RNEY.

'20 Another object is to provide Patented Feb. 18, 1936 PATENT OFFICE SAFETY OUTLET CLOSURE FOR OONVEYERS Willard 'B. McBumey, Atlanta, Ga.

Application'December 24, 1934, Serial No. 759,030

' 7 Claims. (01. 19864) This invention relates to safety outlet closures for conveyers, the present embodiments being designed especially for eliminating hard and practically unbreakable pieces of material that would chock and stop the conveyer-screw if there were no outlet for such pieces of material; the same regarding plunger-type conveyers.

One object of this invention is to provide a normally closed eliminating outlet of the conveyer- 10 cylinder or conduit with a removable closure that is resistingly but yieldingly held in place under normal working conditions within the cylinder, but which automatically opens under excessive pressure exerted by a substantially unbreakable piece of material such as slate, stone, iron or other metal, a chunk of wood, etc.; and which is automatically closed or moved to closing position when the unbreakable piece is eliminated thru the eliminating outlet or opening. r

the conveyercylinder with an eliminating outlet having a forwardly and upwardly inclined wall that serves as a seat and a slide-way for the closure which has .its under side correspondingly formed with an 25 upwardly and forwardly inclined seating surface surrounded by an arcuate retaining flange.-

Another object is to provide a feed-hopper with an elliptical outlet-opening whose major axis is vertical and which has its upper wall-portion forwardly and upwardly inclined in parallel with the closure-seat of the conveyer-cylinder while the latter is secured to the hopper and while the closure has a forwardly and upwardly inclined upper-rear surface normally fitting against the said upper wall-portion of the hoppers outlet opening, so that the closure can open by sliding forward and upward and can return to closing position by sliding downward and rearward. V 40 Another object is to provide simple, economical and effective means to apply downward and rearward yielding pressure on the closure so as to quickly move it to the closing position when it has eliminated the impediment, obstruction or chocking piece from the conveyer.

Other objects and important features are pointed out or implied in the following details of description, in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: I

Fig. '1 is a side elevation of one form or embodiment of the invention wherein the closure is held against normal pressure of the conveyed a. terial by a weight and lever combination or device.

2 is a longitudinal, vertical, sectionalview being shown.

of the form shown in Fig. l, a part of a conveyerscrew being shown in its normal position.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention, only a fragment of the feed-hopper of the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a part of the front attaching flange being broken off, and part of the cylinder shown in vertical cross-section.

Fig. 6 is a front end View of the closure shown 15 in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to these drawings, in detail, in which the similar reference numerals in the several views are referred to in the following description,

- the invention is explained as follows:

A feed-hopper II], for holding coal or other material, is of the same form in each of these forms of the invention, having a substantially'elliptical feed-opening l I in its front wall l2. A conveyer cylinder l3 has a securing flange I4 secured to the wall l2 by any appropriate means (not shown), or formed integrally with the hopper, according to preference of the manufacturer. The flanged end at IA, of the conveyer-cylinder, has a substantially elliptical opening l5 whose upper margin is forwardly and upwardly inclined,

as shown at Hi, this part l6 being complemental to the part indicated at H at the central parts of Figs. 2 and 3 to form a. seat for the upper-rear part of the closure which will presently be de-- 335 scribed.

The cylinder [3 is diagonally or obliquely slotted at ll to provide a removable section l8 that will hereinafter be referred to as the closure, for an opening l9 (Fig. 4) in open communication with the elliptical openings or opening ll-l5. Since a slot or slit is considered a negative element, the numeral I! may be considered as referring to the lower surface of the slot, and this surface is preferably plane and inclined forward and upward, forming a seat for the upper surface of the slot, or the lower surface Ila of the closure l8. From the foregoing, and from the drawings, it is seen that the greater part of the closure is a tapering segment of the cylinder l3; but it has other features such as the joint-covering flange 20, an arcuate upright flange 2|, a combined weight, wedge and presser-seat 22 or 22a, and a pusher-element 23, the latter having its upper surface forwardly and upwardly inclined in parallel with the inclination of the slot or joint I! so it fits against the surfaces shown at II and I6 and is unfastened or free and normally slidable into and out of this normal fitting position when pushed forward and upward in a manner presently explained.

A forwardly extending bracket 24 or 24a. is secured or formed on the wall l2, and on the bracket 24 is pivotally secured a pair of levers 25 which are rigidly united by means of a horizontal bar or presser 26 that normally and usually rests on the part 22 of the closure at a position slightly forward of the pivot 21, and each lever 25 is provided with a weight 28 that is preferably adjustable along the lever to vary the pressure of the part 26 on the part 22.

A lever 25a. is pivoted on the bracket 24a, and has a spring-seat 26a preferably pivoted thereon and engaged with the upper end of a, compression spring 26b which (latter) has its lower end seated against the part 22a, preferably within a cup of the latter, so it retains its engagement withthe closure when the latter is slid forward and upward as shown in Fig. 4, and helps to return the closure to normal position by its combined'rearward pull'and downward push or pressure.

The operation of both forms of the invention is substantially as follows:

Assuming that the "fiangel3a is secured to a furnace to be under-fed by the conveyer, that the hopper contains coal which includes lumps of coal-slate or other obstructions, and that the screw 29 is rotated by any appropriate means so as to push; the coal from the hopper into the cylinder I3 and thence into the furnace; then assume that an obstruction is carried to the point indicated at 30, by the screw, and'tends to chock the screw by wedging between the latter and the part 23; in such case, the force of the rotating screw would, through the obstruction, impart its power to the part 23, thereby overcoming the holding pressure of the weighted device 25-26, or of the spring-device 26a--'26b, and cause the closure to slide to its open or partly open position so that the obstruction would be eliminated through the opening l9, either at the forward or rearward end of the opening; or, if the obstruction is a very large'one, the closure may be entirely displaced, thereby entirely opening the outlet for permitting the large obstruction to pass out.

To permit the closure to be manually replaced while the conveyer is operating, a bolt or keeper a may be removed, the lever 25a thenraised,

and after the parts are placed as in Figs. 3 or 4, the lever 25a then lowered and pressed down, and held by the replaced keeper 24b; or, as in Figs. 1 and. 2, the weights 28 can be removed, the presser 25-26 raised, the closure replaced, the presser lowered, and the weights replaced. However, replacement by manual efiort will not be necessary after elimination of relative small obstructions, for the flange 20 prevents lateral movement of the closure until the latter has slid to or past the position shown in Fig. 4.

Although I have described these embodiments of my invention specifically, as a screw-conveyer, I have nointention to limit my patent protection to' these specific details; for the invention is susceptible of numerous changes, and is applicable to conveyers of the plunger-type or other forcefeeding type and for any appropriate use, without departing from theinventive ideas as implied and claimed.

What I claim asmy invention is:

mally unfasten'ed adjoining edges that are inclined upward and away from the hopper in proper relation to permit the displaceable upper weighted section to slide forward and upward on said sub-jacent part, and a force-feeder extending from said hopper substantially to said conduit and being movable near to said pusher element; whereby, when an impediment is forced by said force-ieeder'against said pusher-element, the latter causes displacement of said upper section against resistance of its weight and thereby .opens said eliminating opening.

2; The combination defined by claim 1,-the displaceable upper section having lateral depending flange-elements that overlap adjacent edges of the sub-jacent part to prevent lateral, displacement of said upper section from its normal position.

3. The combination defined by claim 1, said pusher-element being normally fitted against the under surface that defines the upper part of said outlet-opening of the hopperjwhereby the displaceable upper section is held against direct upward movement from its normal position.

4. The combination defined by claim 1, said pusher-element being normally fitted against the under side orsurface that defines the upper part of said outlet-opening of the hopper, said under surface and the upper surface of said pusher- -element being inclined and substantially parallel to the said normally adjoining inclined edges.

so that the displaceable upper section cannot be moved directly upward but can be moved obliquely along said inclined edges.

5. The combination defined by claim 1, said :upper section having a combined wedge and presser-seat extending up from its top and having an upper surface that is downwardly inclined from said hopper, and a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said hopper and provided with an element that normally rests on said combined wedge and presser-seat in the proper relation to co-act with said pusher element for yieldingly holding the displaceable upper section in its normal position.

6. The combination defined by-claim 1, the upper side of said displaceable section having a presser-seat thereon, a-compression spring enj'gaged with said presser-seat, and a lever pivotpermitting said section to be displaced by exces- Y sive pressure such as is exerted by a hard impedirnent against said pusher-element.

'7."In a'force feeding conveyer for feeding material which may have hard or tough -impediments therein, the combination of a container having an upright wall having an outlet opening therein, a hollow conduit having an open end adjoining said wall and in open communication with said outlet-opening, said conduit having an upper section which is normally displaceable and normally in position to cover an eliminating opening and is provided with a pusher-element that normally extends into said outlet-opening of the wall, said displaceable upper section being normally unfastened with respect to the sub-jacent part of the conduit, said upper section and subjacent part having adjoining edges inclined upward and away from the said container in a proper relation to permit the displaceable upper section to be slid forward and upward by said pusher-element while guided by said sub-jacent part, a force-feeder having a part in said container and operable near to said pusher-element so that when an impediment is forced against the pusher-element by said force-feeder the latter causes the pusher element to displace said upper section and thereby open said eliminating opening so as to eliminate said impediment, the upper side of said displaceable section having a presser-seat thereon, a compression spring engaged with said presser-seat, a lever pivotally mounted on said container and provided with means to engage with the upper part of said spring and compress the latter against said presser-seat when the lever is moved downward on its pivot and thereby to hold the displaceable section yieldingly but resistingly against displacement by normal pressure of material in the conduit While permitting said section to be displaced by excessive pressure against said pusher-element, and means to hold said lever in its lowered position, this latter means being operable for releasing said lever so the latter can be raised to relieve pressure of said compression spring on said displaceable section.

WILLARD B. MCBURNEY. 

